Hi all.
I did some searching to see if this had been discussed previously on the forum, but didn't find any significant threads on the topic.
I've found several peer reviewed papers and a handful of articles from hobbyists discussing documented cooperative breeding by Julidochromis, specifically J. transcriptus and J. ornatus, often involving subdominate males or helpers that are smaller than the breeding pair, that provide a majority of parental care, and that can take over a role in the breeding pair if it becomes available. See here, here, here, here, here, and here. *Note* I have access to full articles through my University library, so if you would like to read them please let me know and I can share them.
Has anyone personally observed such behavior in their home aquaria? From what I've read, it seems to be more common to get a group of juvenile julies, wait for a pair to form, and then remove the other fish before they are harassed to death.
I did some searching to see if this had been discussed previously on the forum, but didn't find any significant threads on the topic.
I've found several peer reviewed papers and a handful of articles from hobbyists discussing documented cooperative breeding by Julidochromis, specifically J. transcriptus and J. ornatus, often involving subdominate males or helpers that are smaller than the breeding pair, that provide a majority of parental care, and that can take over a role in the breeding pair if it becomes available. See here, here, here, here, here, and here. *Note* I have access to full articles through my University library, so if you would like to read them please let me know and I can share them.
Has anyone personally observed such behavior in their home aquaria? From what I've read, it seems to be more common to get a group of juvenile julies, wait for a pair to form, and then remove the other fish before they are harassed to death.